Shoe heel toplift removing tool



July 18, 1961 E. v. NELSON SHOE HEEL TOPLIF'T REMOVING'TOOL Filed Sept. 22, 1959 2,992,445 SHOE HEEL TOPLIFT REMOVINGTOOL Eric V. Nelson, Binghamton, N.Y., assigner to Vulcan Corporation, Portsmouth, (lhio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Sept. 22, 1959, Ser. No. 841,555 1 Claim. (Cl. 12-50.5)

The present invention relates to tools or implements for removing top lifts and/ or their heel mounting dowel pins from the heels of womens shoes. A principal object of the invention is to provide a rugged, yet simplified hand operated tool adapted for convenient and efficient use in shoe repair shops, and capable of ready adjustment for operation on shoe heels in a wide range of sizes and heights.

At the present time the popular type of heel made for womeus shoes has an elongated, slender and tapering shank composed of plastic material and provided with a central bore located within the shank, extending heightwise therethrough and opening out into the bottom thereof. To provide a good tread surface for this type of heel and to re-enforce the slender shank a metallic or plastic top lift unit comprising a top lift and a mounting dowel pin is applied to the shank by axially driving the top lift dowel pin into the bore in the heel shank until the top lift is positioned against the bottom of the heel. In time these top lifts wear out and must be replaced and the removal of the top lift units from the shoe heels has presented a problem in that removal of the top lift units with ordinary tools, has resulted in irreparable damage to many of the plastic heels, or their outer surfaces have been permanently marred with unsightly nicks and scratches.

It is, therefore, another object of this invention to provide a top lift unit pulling tool -that will insure removal of the top lift and the dowel pin from a plastic heel without damage to the heel itself.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tool construction that has strong and easily operated jaw members for gripping the top lift and/or the dowel pin and a force multiplying operator connected thereto that is capable of readily pulling the doweled top lift from the shoe heel anchored in a saddle of the tool.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following specication. In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same:

FIG. l is a side elevational View of the top lift removing tool of this invention, a shoe heel being shown frag mentally therein.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the tool as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

In the drawing wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown the preferred embodiment of my invention, the numeral 6 designates an elongated base plate having a number of wood screw receiving holes 7 formed therethrough for mounting the base plate upon a work bench 8, or other suitable support, in a shoe repair shop. An upstanding U-shaped bracket 9 is tXed to one side of the base plate by bolts lt)` which pass through holes formed in a mounting ange 11 integral with the bracket and threaded in tapped holes A12 in the base plate. The inside member 13 of the bracket supports a bearing 14 which mounts a pull rod 15 for axial sliding movement therein longitudinally of the base plate, whilst the member 16 of the bracket has a manually operated, generally S-shaped lever 17 pivoted thereon. The lever has its pivoted end bifurcated and straddles the member 16, a rivet 18 passing through aligned holes formed in the bifurcated end of the lever and said member to pivotally secure the rates Patentl ICC lever to the bracket. The lever 17 is connected to the pul rod 1S by a force multiplying means comprising a pair of links 19-19 pivotally mounted on opposite sides' of the adjacent end of the rod by a rivet 20. Each link is pivotally mounted at its other end to an intermediate portion of the lever by a rivet 21 located closely adjacent the pivoted end of the lever. Thus when it is required to move the rod 15 through its bearing 14 to apply a considerable axially directed force it is only necessary to grasp the free end of the lever 17 and move it clockwise in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1.

At the opposite end of the base plate there is positioned a pair of laterally spaced apart pins 22-22 which are positioned vertically upon a platform 23 that is welded, or otherwise secured to the plate 6. Each of said pins passes through aligned holes in the platform and the base to form a strong mounting means for them on the base and each is surrounded by a sleeve 24 made of rubber or other relatively soft material. As best shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings the pair of rubber covered pins form a soft saddle means for engaging and holding between lthem an intermediate portion of the narrow shank of a high heel 25 for womens shoes, it being now thought best to have one pin engage the breast face of the heel shank whilst the other pin engages the rear curved face of said heel shank.

Mounted on the pull rod 15 and supported thereby above the base 6 between the heel receiving saddle and the manually actuated, force multiplying operator for the tool is a longitudinally adjustable top lift gripping means generally indicated by the reference numeral 26. The top lift gripping means comprises a U-shaped yoke Z7 having laterally spaced side plates 28--28 connected together at their inner ends by an end plate 29. A screw 30 passes through a hole 31 formed through the end plate 29 and is threaded in a tapped bore 32 in the end of the pull rod 15 to fix the yoke 26 on the rod end. A iixed jaw 33 and a movable jaw 34 are positioned on and longitudinally adjustable in the bracket by means of a triple pin unit generally indicated by the reference numeral 35 that is laterally insertable and withdrawn from the assembled bracket and jaws. To this end the iixed jaw 33 has a pair of pin receiving holes 36 formed laterallyl therethrough which receive two of the pins of the unit 35, whilst the pivoted jaw has a single lateral hole 37 formed there through to receive the remaining pin of the unit. The bracket sidewalls 28-28 have a longitudinal series of holes 318 for receiving the three pin unit 35 whereby the unit may be mounted in the yoke in different longitudinal positions to thereby mount the jaws of the gripping means 26 in proper positions for the tool to accommodate var ious sizes of heels. Hardened steel gripping elements 39-39 are mounted in the free ends of the fined and the movable jaw by the simple mechanical expedient of forming. The jaws 33 and 34 of the top lift gripping member using set screws to fix the gripping means in the slots (FIG. 3)..

The means for clamping the gripping elements 39-39 of the jaws '33 and 34 to a doweled top lift 40 that is to have its dowel pin axially pulled from the heel 25 comprises an elongated bolt 4l having an irregular head 42 received in an irregular recess 43 in the lower surface of the fixed jaw 33, said bolt passing through slots 44 and 45 formed in the iixed and movable jaw, respectively, the upper threaded end of the bolt engaging a manually operated nut 46 that bears against the movable jaw. An expansile spring 47 is interposed between the jaws to urge them apart when the nut is loosened.

In operation the tool and its parts will initially be in the positions shown in the drawings and the heel 25 of a womans shoe from which the worn or damaged top lift is to be drawn is manually inserted between the pair of rubber covered pins 22--22 of the saddle in approximately the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing. The jaws 33 and 34 of the top lift gripping member will initially be spaced apart suciently to permit the top lift to be located between the gripping teeth 39-39. At thispoint the tool operator will determine whether the position of the jaws 33-34 in the yoke 26 is correct for pulling the top lift from the particular heel or whether a jaw adjustment must be made to carry out the operation. If an adjustment must be made the three part pin unit 35 is withdrawn from its jaw engaging position in the yoke and the jaws then moved longitudinally in the yoke to the proper adjusted position whereafter the pin unit is inserted into the proper series of holes in the yoke to support the jaws.

The top lift is then held between the teeth 3939 and the nut 46 turned down until the teeth @#319` lgrip the top lift or dowel whereafter the lever 17 is moved clockwise (FIG. l) in the direction of the arrow which will cause the pull rod 15 and the jaws 36-34 to move with great force away from the pins 7a2- 22 and as said movement continues the heel will be moved into the lixed position shown in the drawing. Further movement of the jaws by the lever will cause the top lift dowel pin to be pulled axially from the heel without damage to the latter.

What is claimed is:

In a device of the character described, the combination of an elongated base plate, a pair of laterally spaced apart, vertical pins mounted upon one end of the base plate and adapted to receive between them an intermediate portion of the shank of a shoe heel with the toplift end therein positioned above the base plate, a pull rod mounted upon the base plate for axial movement longitudinally of the plate and substantially normal totheV References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 994,790 Richards June 13, 1911 2,169,898 Minderman Aug. 15, 1939 2,195,893 McGann Apr. 2, 1940 2,700,815 Smithson Feb. l, 1955 2,909,347 Bass Oct. 20, 1959 

